Most of the cabling industry right now is raising prices due to the increase in the price of raw materials like copper, gold, and petroleum. But recently, L-com announced a major decrease in price for one particularly expensive type of cables: Plenum rated SVGA cables.To give you an idea of the scope of the price change, L-com's CTL3VGAMM-50TP Plenum rated 50 foot SVGA cable retailed at about $680.00. With the new price decrease, that same cable sells at L-com at $335.00, a significant boon to installers and integrators who need Plenum rated cables to install in buildings.
Plenum rating has to do with the flammability of the material used in the jacket of the cable. It doesn't affect how well the cable performs, but some buildings have fire codes that demand only Plenum rated cables be used in certain situations. Because the cables are so expensive normally, installers would have to raise their prices and lower their margins. L-com's change helps them out a lot.
The name "plenum" refers to an airspace, usually a duct-way, between floors in a building. When installers are pulling cables between floors, often the easiest place to pull them through is the plenum. However, normal PVC jackets burn quite easily, and in the event of a fire on one floor, the flames can climb the cables and "jump" from floor to floor. This makes it very difficult to fight the fire and necessitates a special type of jacket that is more flame retardant. L-com posted a really neat video showing the different types of cables burning on its web site.
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